The only means of accessing off-road locations currently available to mobility impaired individuals are motorized vehicles. That substantially limits the locations that disabled people can legally access and greatly diminishes the wilderness experience. Those problems stem largely from the limitations that conventional wheelchairs impose on their users.
Wheelchair users and others who must use walking aids are confined to smooth hard surfaces. Commercially available wheelchairs are much too fragile to withstand the rigors of cross-country travel.
Attempting to travel over uneven terrain in a wheelchair is a dangerous and frustrating endeavor that often results in serious injury. Wheelchairs are very difficult for able-bodied companions to maneuver. Attempts to assist in off-road wheelchair expeditions frequently result in back injuries to assistants.
Limitations of conventional wheelchairs render almost all natural settings completely inaccessible to the disabled. Those limitations create an unfortunate deficit in the lives of disabled people.
The manually-powered off-road transport system for the disabled described below is specifically designed to remedy problems wheelchair users encounter.
Another significant impediment confronted by disabled people is narrow doorways. That problem is extremely common in older hotels and motels. Bathroom doorways are not wide enough for a wheelchair to pass. In foreign countries, that problem is commonplace.
Despite recent federal legislation mandating the removal of architectural barriers to wheelchair users, problems remain. In many parts of the United States, particularly in rural or older regions, there is lax compliance with the federal laws regarding widening of doorways.
To remedy that problem, the present invention describes an unobtrusive accessory for a transport apparatus for disabled individuals that readily permits passage of the apparatus through narrow doorways.